Faculty & Instructors

Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) invites applications for a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Indigenous Art Practice at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor.

The CRC in Indigenous Art Practice will be appointed to one or more of the School’s academic units, depending on the successful applicant’s area(s) of knowledge and expertise. We recognize that in Indigenous art there may be no formal divisions between visual, theatrical, and musical art forms. Brock embraces diverse perspectives and pedagogical practices; it is hoped that the CRC in Indigenous Art Practice will help foster new collaborations across academic units and assist the School and university to move towards Indigenization. The CRC will be welcomed into a tight-knit, friendly, and dynamic community of artists, scholars, staff, and students that respects, promotes, and actively engages with Indigenous arts and culture within the University and Indigenous communities.

Review of applications will begin on October 31, 2019, and will continue until the position is filled.

He describes the experience as a “whirlwind,” especially after Toronto-based rapper Drake made a surprise appearance at the May 10 opening night performance.

Brock Dramatic Arts alumnus Marcel Stewart (BA ’07), second from right, and his castmates from The Brothers Size got a surprise visit from rapper Drake, third from right, at the opening night performance of the Toronto show.

“It has been amazing; it’s such a gift to do something like this,” Stewart said. “Through my whole journey as an actor, I have wanted to work on a play that speaks to my experience, one that I can easily dive into, and this text was so comfortable it was like putting on a jacket that was made for me.”

The Brothers Size is the second play in the Brothers/Sisters series, written by Oscar-winning screenwriter and Tony Award-nominated playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney.

Set in a fictional town in Louisiana, it tells the story of two brothers, Ogun and Oshoosi, who find themselves living together after Oshoosi’s release from prison.

Stewart plays Oshoosi’s best friend, who formed a bond with him during their incarceration together.

“I think on a micro level, Brothers Size is about the experience of black men today in the world,” Stewart said. “But on the macro level, what the characters go through are things that all people experience: grief, trauma and searching for a sense of belonging.”

Stewart’s performance marks his return to the Soulpepper stage, where he has previously performed three times and was a member of the Soulpepper Academy.

Some of his other credits include the role of Miles in The Drawer Boy at Prince Edward County’s Festival Players, Coutts in the Mirvish Theatre Production of King Charles III in Toronto, and roles on popular Canadian television series’ Kim’s Convenience and Murdoch Mysteries.

While he focused primarily on acting for several years after graduation, Stewart also developed a passion for doing outreach work and giving back to young, aspiring actors.

Brock Dramatic Arts alumnus Marcel Stewart (BA ’07).

When he’s not on stage, he gives private acting lessons and hosts workshops in communities across Canada. He’s worked with school groups at the Toronto International Film Festival, for example, and was the creator of What Noise is This, a workshop that explores William Shakespeare’s canon through the lens of hip-hop music.

Stewart is also involved in the local theatre industry, both as the outreach co-ordinator with St. Catharines theatre company Suitcase in Point and the volunteer co-ordinator for the upcoming In The Soil Arts Festival, taking place this June in downtown St. Catharines.

“Marcel was bright and hungry to learn and is an example of the breadth of career opportunities that become available after studying in DART,” she said. “We congratulate him on his success as a working artist and are very proud of the contributions he has made in the theatre community over the years.”

Stewart attributes his ability to “wear many hats” in his career to the skills he gained from studying at Brock.

“The ‘motor’ that I developed at Brock was probably my biggest takeaway that I still rely on 12 years later,” the 33-year-old said. “To keep going, to keep pursuing, and if a door is closed in my face, then there’s 10 more doors that I can open.”

After the wrap of Brothers Size in Toronto, Stewart is headed back to work in St. Catharines.

He wants to continue his outreach work and bring more eclectic and diverse artists to St. Catharines.

He said instructors at Brock encouraged him to explore his sense of self and find cultural connections through the performing arts — and he wants to do the same for others.

“My experience at Brock helped open me up to recognizing who I am as a black man and encouraged me use that voice and speak from my perspective whenever I can,” he said. “Now I’m on this representation kick, running workshops, doing outreach and looking at how to bring some more colour — in more ways than one — to the artistic landscape.”

Brothers Size runs until Saturday, June 1 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts at 50 Tank House Lane in Toronto. More information and tickets are available at Soulpepper.ca.

HOW TO AUDITION

Previous singing experience and the ability to read music is required.

All singers accepted into the choir are expected to attend all rehearsals and performances throughout the year. Dates for the entire year will be posted before the end of August, prior to your audition.

Auditions will be 10 minutes in length and will include the following:

Brock’s Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture is launching two new books, Inland and The Quarry, through the new Small Walker Press.

Brock’s Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture (STAC) has partnered with The Salon für Kunstbuch in Austria to launch an international book publishing division.

The new Small Walker Press will celebrate the publication of its first two books at an official launch event on Thursday, May 9 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event will take place in the main lobby of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) at 15 Artists’ Common in downtown St. Catharines.

This year’s books were published under the theme of environmental degradation and include Inland, by Associate Professor of Visual Arts Shawn Serfas with creative writing by Atlanta-based New York Times journalist Richard Fausset and an essay by Associate Professor of Visual Arts Derek Knight, and The Quarry, by Associate Professor Adam Dickinson and artist Lorène Bourgeois.

Noelle Allen, Publisher for Hamilton-based literary press Wolsak and Wynn, will be the guest speaker for the event.

The launch is free and all are encouraged to attend.

“The University is the ideal place to promote book culture,” said STAC Director Catherine Parayre. “Working with different authors and artists to bring about the completion of a book project is a fully interdisciplinary challenge that is rewarding intellectually, but also a wonderful opportunity to work with expert graphic designers.”

Headed by STAC, the Small Walker Press addresses the research and creative interests of faculty members at Brock’s MIWSFPA and engages with authors, artists and academics alike to produce small, innovative publications.

Funded by the generous support of the Walker Cultural Leader Series and the late Marilyn I. Walker, the press publishes collaborative work that brings together authors and artists from the Niagara region, as well as those across Canada and internationally.

Parayre and Knight serve as its editors; Bernhard Cella, from The Salon für Kunstbuch in Vienna, Austria, is the press’s book designer.

Inland provides two distinct reflections on pollution and the consequences of human intervention on natural resources. It features work created by Serfas for his 2016 exhibition Inland, curated by Stuart Reid at Rodman Hall Art Centre, and creative writing by Fausset, whose work includes extensive coverage of the devastating environmental and socio-economic impacts of Hurricane Katrina.

The Quarry offers a reflection on a walk that Dickinson and Bourgeois embarked upon through the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site on the Niagara Escarpment in 2018. Dickinson contributes a poem for the book, which is accompanied by drawings by Bourgeois.

“We are very much looking forward to sharing these books with the public at the launch on May 9,” Parayre said.

The Small Walker Press is predicated on, and values, interdisciplinary co-operation, the exploration of image and text, and seeks to contribute to and participate in the promotion of book culture.

Publications will include exhibition catalogues, artist’s books, chapbooks, short essay format and creative writing as well as online art folios or editions, and recorded sound work or interviews.

Publications may be in English, French or other languages and books will be available for purchase at the launch.

Visual Arts students in Assistant Professor Amy Friend’s Introduction to Digital Photography class were given the chance to interview six successful, creative professionals from around the world thanks to an Experiential Education Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant. The class is pictured engaged in discussion with Dornith Doherty, a Texas professor who documents and collages seeds and tissue samples.

What’s it like to create a photographic archive of plant seeds and tissue samples that could one day ensure humanity’s very survival?

What about travelling the world to capture award-winning images of the rapidly melting polar ice caps or soldiers in conflict zones?

Students in Brock’s Introduction to Digital Photography class learned all of this and more, directly from creative professionals this past semester.

Thanks to an Experiential Education Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant, Assistant Professor Amy Friend was able to invite six professionals in the field of photography from around the world to visit her class via video chat.

British-American artist Phillip Toledano, pictured on screen, was one of six artists who participated in student-conducted interviews as part of Assistant Professor Amy Friend’s Introduction to Digital Photography class. The Visual Arts students were given the opportunity to interact with these creative professionals thanks to an Experiential Education Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant.

Visual Arts students researched and subsequently interviewed guest speakers one-on-one, before ending each session with a group discussion.

The exercise provided valuable insight into the artistic process and the challenges involved with working in different areas of photography, Friend said.

“The students responded quite well; you could see a sense of excitement,” she said. “They heard interesting stories about how artists work through their processes and different insights about how and why specific choices are made, and the methods used to get this work out into the world.”

Participating artists included Dornith Doherty, a professor and Guggenheim Foundation Fellow from North Texas who documents and collages plant seeds and tissue samples in her Archiving Eden project; Cig Harvey, an artist whose work has been exhibited at major museums and collections in the United States and Europe; Spanish artist Alfonso Almedros; award-winning photojournalist Louie Palu, whose work has been featured in National Geographic and numerous international collections; Jacqueline Bates, Photography Director of The California Sunday Magazine; and British-American mixed-media artist and author Phillip Toledano.

Fourth-year Visual Arts student Rachel McCartney was tasked with interviewing Toledano, whose work is similar to what she aspires to create herself one day.

“Interacting with visiting artists in a classroom setting was an extremely useful and gratifying experience,” she said. “It allowed for direct one-on-one communication and to dissect the brain of someone who is a successful future version of what I aspire to be.”

The grant was one of 18 that were awarded in 2018-19 to support the development of new experiential learning courses and experiential opportunities within existing courses.

The Teaching and Learning Innovation Grants were supported financially by Experiential Education at Brock and external funding through the province’s Career Ready Fund.

Sandy Howe, Associate Director, Experiential Education, said the new interview series went “above and beyond” expectations and offered a “highly impactful” experiential learning opportunity for participating students.

“It’s always amazing to me to see faculty members trying something new in their courses and how this impacts their own learning and engagement with their teaching,” she added. “This is an excellent example of how different types of experiences can be used to improve both teaching and learning.”

Friend said the calibre and range of artists who participated also exposed students to the range of career opportunities that exist for someone with a Fine Arts and Photography background.

“It was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced in my teaching strategies,” she said. “I was stunned by how much information the students were able to learn in a short period of time.”

For McCartney, the experience armed her with more confidence as an artist and a wealth of advice for ensuring success in her future career.

“I find it really important that we constantly look for new ways to teach and learn because it promotes better student engagement,” she said. “Actively changing the curriculum to integrate new ways of learning creates a more personalized education that is beneficial to students. I’m very thankful to the artists who participated and immensely thankful for Professor Friend for organizing this experience.”

The Avanti Chamber Singers will close an eclectic Brock Music season with their final performance, The Road Home.

Led by Assistant Professor Rachel Rensink-Hoff, Brock’s Ensemble-in-Residence will perform at St. Thomas Anglican Church on Saturday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Viva Voce! Choral Series.

Rensink-Hoff explained this concert is quite different from Avanti’s first two performances this season.

“We’ve had a very diverse year,” she said. “We did the big classical piece at the beginning of the year and have explored probably every style chorally that we could throughout the season.”

The concert repertoire was inspired by This House of Peace, a choral number by contemporary composer Ralph Johnson, commissioned for the opening of the Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend in Springfield, Ore. The song reflects on conversations Johnson had with people staying in a medical centre guesthouse while their loved ones were in hospital.

As well as Johnson’s number, the choir will also perform songs that reflect on the idea of “home” as a space where individuals feel at peace.

The opening piece, titled Ambe by Indigenous composer Andrew Balfour, is rhythmic in style and based in an Ojibway dialect.

The program also includes All of Us by Craig Hella Johnson, and Stephen Paulus’ The Road Home, for which the concert is named.

The Avanti Chamber Singers will also be joined by oboist Marta Agnieszka for a few pieces during the performance, including Gabriel’s Oboe arranged by Jon Washburn.

This is the third and final performance of the season for the choir, who have spent the last eight months rehearsing and growing together as singers.

“Concert themes can be quite personal and so, as I work with Avanti and get to know them more, it’s easier to create programs that I believe will resonate with the members of the choir,” said Rensink-Hoff.

The Avanti Chamber Singers will perform for the final time this season on Saturday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Thomas Anglican Church, 99 Ontario St. in St. Catharines.

Tickets purchased in advance for the show are $20 for adults and seniors. Tickets at the door are $25 for adults and $20 for seniors. There is also a discounted price of $5 for students and eyeGo program members. Tickets are available through theAvanti Chamber Singers website, at Thorold Music, Booksmart Books or from choir members.

Brock is recruiting three Canada Research Chairs between now and the beginning of June in the Faculties of Humanities, Applied Health Sciences and Mathematics and Science. Pictured are some of the faculty involved in the recruitment process. From left: Elizabeth Vlossak (Director, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts), Robson De Grande (Computer Science), Beatrice Ombuki-Berman (Computer Science), Doug Bruce (Biological Sciences) and Miya Narushima (Health Sciences).

Researchers and scholars within and outside Brock are encouraged to apply, especially Indigenous peoples, members of visible minorities and those with disabilities, says Interim Associate Vice-President, Research Michelle McGinn.

“These scholars often bring new perspectives that lead to critical research advances, and they are important role models for the next generation of scholars,” she says.

“This chair will position Brock and the wider Niagara community with the opportunity to study mechanisms of health and disease, solidifying and expanding the current research capacity at Brock,” says Deborah O’Leary, Professor of Health Sciences and Director of the Brock-Niagara Centre for Health and Well-Being.

O’Leary says those applying to the position need to propose “an original, innovative research program of the highest quality” in one of the following areas: inflammation and immunity; genetic and epigenetic programming; host response to infection; nutritional biology and metabolism; and physical or mental stress-induced tissue remodelling.

The competition for that position closes Friday, April 26.

The Canada Research Chair Tier 2 in Indigenous Art Practice position will be cross-appointed to two or more of the academic units at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, including the Departments of Dramatic Arts, Music, Visual Arts and Studies in Arts and Culture.

The successful candidate will be an “innovative artist/scholar with the demonstrated potential to achieve a significant international reputation within five to 10 years,” says Karen Fricker, Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts.

“The CRC will have an innovative creative practice across one or multiple art forms, working with Indigenous communities and establishing new Indigenous arts-based research and methodologies.”

McGinn says the position demonstrates the University’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.

“Brock University has renewed its commitment to reconciliation and decolonization in its most recent strategic plan, and the CRC in Indigenous Art Practice responds directly to this priority,” says McGinn.

He says that, traditionally, researchers in the field of bioinformatics and computational biology are either “primarily biologists who use existing computer software tools, or computer scientists who develop tools that are then applied to biology problems.”

The successful candidate will be proficient in both areas so as to develop software tools and applications in population genomics, proteomics and structural biology.

“The areas of bioinformatics and computational biology have matured significantly, and having expertise in both biology and computer science is a distinct advantage these days,” Ross says.

The competition for that position closes Tuesday, June 4.

McGinn says the three CRC positions are a “key part” of Brock’s latest Strategic Plan, which “identifies a strengthened focus on building research capacity across the University.

“Outstanding scholars who have or will build international reputations engage in high-impact research, and they provide exceptional opportunities for students and postdoctoral scholars who work and learn with them,” she says.

Following her recital with Maltese-Canadian flutist Rebecca Hall last semester, Associate Professor Karin Di Bella will give a solo performance on Tuesday, Feb. 26 as part of the RBC Foundation Music@Noon Recital Series.

Focusing on one of her areas of expertise, contemporary Canadian repertoire, Di Bella will premiere a set of works by St. Catharines composer James Moffett during her performance in the Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

Di Bella is currently working at Brock where she teaches studio piano, master classes, accompanying, keyboard harmony, piano literature and piano pedagogy. She has been sought after as an adjudicator for music festivals across Canada and is a senior piano examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music.

The RBC Foundation Music@Noon Recital Series features free one-hour concerts most Tuesdays at noon during the academic year. Students, faculty, staff and the community are invited to join the Department of Music on Tuesday, Feb. 26 in the Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines.

Yasmine Kandil, Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts, and six Brock Dramatic Arts students will present “Still Here,” cat the fifth annual Art, Archives and Affinities event. Hosted by the Social Justice Research Institute, the event takes place at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

Art-making and trauma. Non-human organisms in the human body. Early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

These are some of the ideas and experiences Brock scholars will explore through art and literature at the upcoming Art, Archives and Affinities event hosted by the Social Justice Research Institute.

Held Tuesday, Feb. 26 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in downtown St. Catharines, this year’s event features scholars from Visual Arts, Dramatic Arts, and English examining ideas about the body, illness and trauma.

Included among the speakers is Candace Couse, an artist and PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Humanities, who will present an art installation and discuss her research on art and illness. Couse’s research examines the role that producing art has on artists who are undergoing illness and body trauma and how addressing trauma and illness through art-making helps artists reclaim their bodies and experiences.

Also presenting is Adam Dickinson, Associate Professor in the Department of English, who subjected himself to a wide variety of bio-medical tests to measure and identify the precise chemical and microbial diversity of his body. The book of poetry he wrote examining the experience and its results, Anatomic, explores how we rely on nonhuman organisms to make us human and the permeability of our bodies to the environment.

Yasmine Kandil, Assistant Professor in the Department of Dramatic Arts, and a team of six Dramatic Arts students will present performance piece “Still Here” at the event. Students created the performance based on interviews they did with caregivers of people with early onset Alzheimer’s. The performance explores the disease and the impact it has on caregivers.

Guests at the upcoming concert performed by the Avanti Chamber Singers are in for a surprise.

Voices Raised, led by Rachel Rensink-Hoff on Saturday, Feb. 23, is a chance for Brock University’s choir-in-residence to celebrate the raw power of the human voice.

The group will be performing an a cappella concert, with pieces ranging from early classical works to contemporary repertoire. The show promises to be the most diverse concert to date, with everything from open-throated chant singing to spoken word poetry.

Members of the Avanti Chamber Singers have been working hard since their performance last November to build confidence with pitches and tuning, since there are no accompanying instruments this time around.

“I am proud of what Avanti has accomplished in the short period of time since our last concert,” said Rensink-Hoff. “We can’t wait to share this program with our audience next week.”

The group will also be performing a bit of beat-boxing and a deeply moving text by Indigenous poet Rita Joe titled I Lost My Talk. The singers will also be premiering two new compositions — one by Niagara-based composer James Moffett and the other by Laura Hawley.

The Avanti Chamber Singers will also be inviting the audience to join in a singalong during the concert.

Seating at St. Thomas’ Anglican Church is limited and guests are encouraged to purchase their tickets as soon as possible.

Voices Raised takes place Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. Advanced tickets are available through the Avanti Chamber Singers website, at Thorold Music and Booksmart, or from choir members for $20 for adults and seniors. Tickets at the door are $25 for adults and $20 for seniors. A $5 ticket is available for students and eyeGo program members.

Rensink-Hoff is also the conductor for the Brock University Choirs, which includes both the chamber choir and the new women’s choir. Their next performance is Saturday, March 30.